Engineering to be promoted as career

The resources industry representative body will launch a campaign to reduce the state's shortage of skilled professionals by promoting engineering as a career.

The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia says resource companies in WA are struggling to attract and retain engineers, and that is threatening the development of many big projects.

To counter the shortage, the chamber is developing a marketing campaign to be run in universities and high schools across the state.

Chamber director Reg Howard-Smith says the campaign aims to attract more people to the profession and improve its image.

"The message is this is a really exciting and sexy career," he said.

"I think the perception of the resources sector is that we're dealing with old technology, that's far from the case. What we're dealing with is leading edge technology where engineers can have a fantastic career."